Daily Digest

Volvo of Memphis Files Building Permit

The ownership group of Volvo of Memphis has filed a $2.3 million building permit for the company’s new dealership at 7910 Trinity Road in Cordova.

Wenco Properties LLC filed the permit application with the city-county Office of Construction Code Enforcement for the $3.5 million Volvo facility to be built on two parcels totaling 5.7 acres.

The property is on the north side of Trinity Road just west of its intersection with North Germantown Parkway. The Shelby County Assessor of Property lists the address as 0 Moriarty Road, which is the street that runs along the parcels’ northern border.

Wenco Properties, whose manager, Ernest Norcross, also owns Volvo of Memphis, bought the two parcels in November for a combined $845,000.

The dealership will be built under Volvo Cars North America’s new design standard, called Volvo Next Face. Volvo of Memphis will vacate its current location on Covington Pike and move into the new facility next summer

Grinder, Taber & Grinder Inc. is listed on the permit as the general contractor, and Fleming Associates Architects PC is the architect of record.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

– Daily News staff

Lipman Nominated for Federal Bench

Sheri Lipman, University of Memphis general counsel and chief of staff to interim university president Brad Martin, has been appointed by President Barack Obama as the newest federal court judge for the Western District of Tennessee.

Obama announced Thursday, Aug. 1, he was sending Lipman’s nomination to the U.S. Senate for confirmation.

She was one of three contenders recommended to the White House by U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen.

Lipman, who clerked for federal appeals court judge Julia Gibbons when Gibbons was a U.S. District Court judge, earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan. She earned her law degree from New York University School of Law.

Lipman was also an attorney at Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs LLP as well as Burch, Porter and Johnson PLLC. She was vice president of comprehensive services at the Memphis Race Relations and Diversity Institute before beginning her 14 years of service at The University of Memphis.

– Bill Dries

Memphis in May to Honor Panama

The annual Memphis in May International Festival will honor Panama during 2014.

The 2014 festival is the 38th edition of the event, which annually honors and promotes business ties with a country. International business trade has been a goal of the festival from its beginnings in the mid 1970s.

Panama is being honored as the expansion of the Panama Canal nears completion in 2015.

Meanwhile, Ron Coleman, the president and chairman of Competition Cams Inc., is the new chairman of the Memphis in May board. Coleman will lead a Shelby County delegation to visit Panama in March.

– Bill Dries

First Tennessee Launches Checking Information Guide

First Tennessee Bank has developed a resource to help customers understand fees and features associated with checking accounts.

The bank’s new Account Service Fee Guide consolidates checking account information into a one-page guide that incorporates industry guidelines recommended by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

First Tennessee and Pew worked together on the information. The new product, which summarizes information provided to customers when they open checking accounts, is a reference for potential customers who want to compare checking account products offered by First Tennessee and other banks.

Supermarket Wine Supporters Tout New Study

Proponents of allowing wine to be sold in Tennessee supermarkets and convenience stores are touting a new study that they say suggests that the change would not be linked to increased crime or traffic fatalities.

The study published in the journal Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy finds that if the total amount of alcohol consumed remains constant, a higher share of wine consumption would result in fewer traffic deaths. The opposite is the case for beer, according to the authors from Cornell and Colorado State universities.

Lawmakers this year advanced a wine-in-supermarkets bill further than ever before, but the measure ultimately failed. Under current state law, supermarkets can sell no alcohol stronger than beer, and wine sales are limited to liquor stores.

– The Associated Press

US Employers Add 162,000 Jobs in June

U.S. employers added 162,000 jobs in July, a modest increase and the fewest since March. Still, the unemployment rate fell to a 4.5-year low of 7.4 percent, a hopeful sign.

Unemployment declined from 7.6 percent in June because more Americans found jobs, and others stopped looking and were no longer counted as unemployed.

Still, Friday’s report from the Commerce Department pointed to a less-than-robust job market. It suggested that the economy’s subpar growth and modest consumer spending are making many businesses cautious about hiring.

The government said employers added a combined 26,000 fewer jobs in May and June than it previously estimated. Americans worked fewer hours in July, and their average pay dipped. And many of the jobs employers added last month were for lower-paying work at stores, bars and restaurants.

– The Associated Press

US Factory Orders Rise 1.5 Percent in June

Orders placed with U.S. factories rose to a record high in June, boosted by strong demand for airplanes, machinery and autos.

Factory orders rose 1.5 percent in June compared with May, when orders had risen 3 percent, the Commerce Department reported Friday. The gains pushed total orders to a record $496.7 billion.

It was the second month that factory orders have been at an all-time high, surpassing the previous record set in June 2008. Demand for factory goods had plunged during the recession.

Orders in a key category that tracks business investment rose 0.9 percent in June, the fourth consecutive monthly gain.

Manufacturing struggled in the early part of this year, held back by weaker global growth and steep government spending cuts.

Orders for durable goods, items expected to last at least three years, rose 3.9 percent in June. That represented a slight downward revision from a preliminary report which had put the increase at 4.2 percent.

Orders for nondurable goods such as chemicals, paper and food fell 0.6 percent in June after a 0.8 percent increase in May.

Demand for machinery increased 2.6 percent in June, led by a 44.1 percent surge in oil and gas drilling equipment.